


Evolution

by narsus



Category: Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: Ambition, Implied Relationships, M/M, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 12:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narsus/pseuds/narsus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over time Q grows into the role.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Evolution

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Skyfall belongs to Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and others. Based on James Bond by Ian Fleming.

He grows into the role of course. After six months of prickling at the edges and batting away conflicts that he can’t quite see, it all starts to sink in. That sometimes it is better to observe, sometimes better to say what is expected, rather than express other viewpoints. It takes a mere six months for Q to go from the paranoid, if tenacious, head of section to M’s right hand, the section chief always capable of saying and doing the right thing at the right instant. He is, of course, still a little awkward, still a little socially maladapted, but never enough for it to cause damage. He knows how to appear attentive even when his mind is turned off, how to soothe over bruised egos with false bumble and confusion, he even, in these last few months, has learned to laugh so perfectly that his listeners are flatted that he appreciates their wit rather than realise his derision.

M smiles sharply at him when they exchange glances over the boardroom table. Q, more of often than not, now sits to M’s right as a matter of course. Even the other heads of section, older, more experienced, former military, comment on how it is on him that M relies. He isn’t a threat to them, not yet, but eventually it might be to him they will one day be deferring. There is a future written in his sharp gaze, in his languid posture, in his close-lipped smiles. They no longer believe that he is as foolish as he often pretends. They are, after all, adept at backing the right horse, and no other has a leg in this race, not anymore.

He still wears rumpled shirts and coats over increasingly smarter suits. Some days he even wears pinstripe. Some days, in the depths of an anorak pocket, is a crumpled pocket square. Though as the weather grows lighter, of course, he’s now wearing an appropriately brand of raincoat. A gift from James because brands that began life as the brainchild of a Machunian musician weren’t quite, allegedly, the sort of look to go for. Q is, admittedly, dressing for the job he wants, which isn’t necessarily the one he currently has. M is always a little more conservative, a little more _establishment_ , all without being staid. There is an invisible line that M will never cross. The trick is to be refined but not too obviously a member of that club. The necessity, else he’d go mad, is to be a little avant-garde, but not foolishly so. Q is content to let James buy him presents, and give the faintest suggestion of sartorial style, that may or may not be ignored.

Q goes to MOD bases these days. He drives himself in a small car meant for the city rather than pothole filled roads. They’re used to him now. The sight of his little car, splattered with mud, hubcaps scored with the mark of countless curbs. He flashes a pass, slouches onto site, sometimes wheeling a laptop case behind him. It gets his name out. They know who he is, more importantly, they respect his position. He’s networking for the day when he needs to call in all favours. He’s aware that the day that he _needs_ a connection it will be too late to build it. More than ever he needs military support simply because he isn’t military himself. He needs a cadre of ex-armed forces personnel to fill the ranks of MI6 with when the day comes and he can finally consolidate his position. He needs to be the obvious choice, the only choice, the one man with allies and influence enough, that to refuse him would be career suicide for everyone who’d dare make that decision.

Of course none of that will matter for some time to come. M isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and when he does it will be into a quiet retirement, from which to enjoy the accolades of his peers and the success of his successor. The hour has not yet come, and will not for years at least. He has time enough to consolidate his hold on Albion and all her glorious perfidy. Time enough, also, to ensure that this is the path that he wants to walk. There are, inevitably, other alternatives, other arenas in which to apply his talents. The possible future is always speculation, and perhaps, not without merit, is the potential that MI6 is simply a chance to hone his skills at the game.

**Author's Note:**

> Q wears a Pretty Green anorak, in _Skyfall_ , a brand created by Liam Gallagher of Oasis fame. He may also, for the purposes of this exercise, even be driving an Aston Martin Cygnet, which may or may not have been bought for him.


End file.
